Akal Takht jathedar justifies pro-Khalistan slogans on Operation Bluestar anniversary

Amritsar: Justifying secessionist sloganeering once again, Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh on Sunday said that Sikhs reduce their pain by uttering “Khalistan Zindabad” on the anniversary of Operation Bluestar in Amritsar

Amritsar: Justifying secessionist sloganeering once again, Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh on Sunday said that Sikhs reduce their pain by uttering “Khalistan Zindabad” on the anniversary of Operation Bluestar in Amritsar.

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“This is a deep wound on Sikhs, which gives pain throughout the year. On its anniversary, we reduce this pain by uttering ‘Khalistan Zindabad’. It can never be forgotten. It will be part of our memory forever,” Singh said, amid echoes of slogans during his customary address from the highest temporal seat of Sikhs on the 37th anniversary of the military action at Golden Temple.

Even during his address last year, Singh had stated that every Sikh wanted Khalistan and if the government offers them the formation of a separate nation, “they will accept it happily”.

“The Indian Army attacked Akal Takht just like it battled against China and Pakistan during wars. However, the treatment given to Sikhs was more oppressive and brutal than one given by the winning side to the losing side in a battle,” said Giani Harpreet Singh on Sunday.

The acting jathedar claimed that he had received a lot of emails seeking June 6 be declared as “Amritsar Genocide”. “However, we should remember that the Indian Army not only attacked the Sikh shrine in Amritsar, but also 37 other gurdwaras,” he said, adding that the term genocide should rather be used for the killing of Sikhs in Delhi and other cities after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination in November 1984.

“The community has already recognised the Operation Bluestar as another ‘ghallughara’ (holocaust),” he said, adding: “We know how this deep wound is to be treated, and where its medicine lies, but how this medicine is to be arranged, we never tried to think over it by sitting together.”

On the sidelines of the function, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Bibi Jagir Kaur endorsed the jathedar’s views on pro-Khalistan slogans. “This is an expression of the Sikh youth’s ‘josh’ (vehemence). As Singh Sahib (jathedar) stated the youngsters demonstrated their sentiments and healed their pain on the occasion,” she said.

Despite Covid-19 weekend lockdown imposed in the city, the gathering was much bigger than that seen in recent years. However, no untoward incident was reported.

SGPC to initiate talks with Centre for out-of-court settlement in ₹1,000-crore damages suit

Meanwhile, the SGPC is set to begin negotiations with the Union government for out-of-court settlement of ₹1,000-crore damages suit related to Operation Bluestar, immediately after the 37th anniversary of the military action at Golden Temple.

The suit was filed by the SGPC, under its then president Gurcharan Singh Tohra, in the Delhi high court in March 1985. Thirty-six years on, it is still pending. On the court’s order, both sides — Centre and SGPC — are ready to resolve the dispute out of court since 2019. However, no meeting has been held between the two sides so far.

“The matter, which came to a standstill due to the pandemic, was discussed in our last executive committee meeting held on June 2,” said Bhagwant Singh Sialka, an advocate and general secretary of the SGPC. “It was decided that a letter will be written on the issue to Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after the anniversary of military action.”

The PM will be approached first because he is the competent authority being the executive head of the state, said Sialka. “Let’s see to whom he further assigns the task of negotiations,” he said.

SGPC honorary chief secretary Harjinder Singh Dhami said the apex Sikh body has already paid ₹10 crore as court fees in the case. “So, we want the case to be settled, and will start the proceedings in this regard after June 6. We are bound by the court’s order to sit together and settle the dispute. The SGPC executive committee will sit again to decide on what terms the talks are to be initiated,” he said.

“The loss borne by the Sikh community can never be compensated with money. The purpose of filing the suit was to make the government admit that it had been totally unfair with Sikhs. Compensation is a symbolic thing. If we get it, the operation will prove to be unjustified,” said Sialka, adding that the suit also helped bring on record the events that led to the military action and everything that occurred afterwards.

Meanwhile, a sub-committee constituted by the SGPC is working on a list of precious items that were taken away by the Indian Army from Sikh Reference Library and other places on the Golden Temple complex.

The military action that was carried out in the first week of June in 1984 to flush the Sikh militants out from the Golden Temple complex had damaged the buildings of the Akal Takht, Golden Temple and Teja Singh Samundri Hall, which is the SGPC headquarters. Except at Akal Takht, many bullet marks on other buildings are preserved as evidence in this case.

The SGPC will also take help of experts and scholars in the process, said people privy to the development.